HO CHI MINH CITY, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 180 children from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia will gather here from July 27 to August 1 for sightseeing and cultural exchange, the Ho Chi Minh City authorities said Saturday.
The children include 50 from Laos, 50 from Cambodia and 79 from Vietnam. They will visit many historical sites and beauty spots in the city, and participate in art performances.
The event is designed to help strengthen solidarity and friendship among the three countries, said the local authorities.
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The latest wave of severe air pollution continued to smother China's northern regions including Beijing ECCO Collin Loafer 535904-02001 Black , Tianjin, Hebei and Henan provinces on Thursday, and is likely to last until Saturday.
The National Meteorological Center (NMC) upgraded northern China's smog alert from yellow to orange on Thursday afternoon. Most northern regions were severely affected. The NMC forecast that Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province will all suffer from dense smog that could bring visibility down to less than 200 meters in some places on Friday ECCO Classic Moc 2.0 570904-01072 Coffee , NMC said on its website.
The smog, which first hit Henan Province on Tuesday, was said to be the worst in northern China since July.
According to Beijing's contingency plans, outdoor sport events and school activities should be cancelled while an orange alert is in effect and it is suggested that residents wear masks while outside and wash faces afterwards.
Some cities in Hebei Province ECCO Classic Moc 2.0 570904-01001 Black , such as Langfang and Handan, began to limit the number of vehicles on the road by prohibiting cars with certain license plate numbers from being driven, in an attempt to curb air pollution.
Two thirds of Henan's cities have been shrouded by air pollution for several days this month, and the Department of Environmental Protection of Henan Province attributed the smog to farmers burning straw in their fields ECCO Classic Moc 2.0 Loafer 570944-01014 Mink , which helps crops grow, the Guangming Daily reported.
However, environmentalists do not buy the explanation offered by Henan's government.
""The occurrence of the smog is by no means an accident,"" Du Shaozhong ecco sandals clearance , former deputy director of Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, told the Global Times.
China's current industrial production methods that rely heavily on traditional, polluting energy sources and vehicle exhaust fumes should be blamed for causing the smog, Du said.
Du called on the public and government to work together to change the production methods ecco dress shoes clearance , to supervise emissions and to curb smoke produced by restaurants.
""Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei will never see blue skies if we do not deal with pollution caused by vehicles, burning coal and various industries,"" Du said.
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FREETOWN ecco boots clearance , Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma has declared seven days of mourning across the country with immediate effect.
The president made the announcement through national TV, the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday after a devastating mudslide early Monday killed nearly 300 people on the outskirts of capital city Freetown.
According to a statement from the Office of the President, the national mourning will start from Aug. 16 to Aug. 22, during which period all flags would be flown at half mast.
The general public is also requested to observe a minute of silence at 12 midday on Wednesday ecco kinhin shoes clearance , the statement said.
"The President has further decided to invoke MAC-C (Military Aid to Civil Community) and to raise the national security threat level to level 3 in direct response to the unfolding emergency situation," the statement said.
The government also requests bereaved families to continue to identify their fallen loved ones at the Connaught Hospital Mortuary between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Wednesday at the mortuary where they will be advised on the burial procedure, according to the statement.
It said that unidentified corpses will be given dignified burial at Waterloo between Aug. 17 and Aug. 18.
It added that the government will continue to provide the public with regular updates on the situation.
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MANILA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano met on Monday with Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Foreign Minister Ri Hong-Yo to personally convey the position of ASEAN on the situation in the Korean Peninsula ecco fraser shoes clearance , a Philippine government statement said.
The statement said Cayetano, the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers meeting, presented the ASEAN statement to Ri shortly before the East Asia Summit foreign ministers meeting at the Philippine International Convention Center past noon Monday.
Cayetano's meeting with Ri came a few days after ASEAN foreign ministers issued a statement calling on the DPRK "to comply fully with its obligations under all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions and international laws and for all concerned parties to exercise self-restraint so as not to further aggravate the situation in the Korean Peninsula."
"The statement was not borne out of lost friendship but is because of frustration that there seems to be no opening for discussions or dialogue to address the impasse on the issues in the Korean Peninsula," the Philippine foreign ministry statement quoted Cayetano as telling Ri.